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not to be sufficient for this ministry, and You promised to make me stronger than my enemies, and to show me to be like a bronze wall and an iron pillar; and now I have become a laughingstock; for this is what he says: "I have become a laughingstock all the day; I was continually mocked." 8. Because I will laugh with my bitter word, I will call upon impiety and misery, because the word of the Lord has become to me a reproach and a derision all the day. What bites the prophet are not the miseries and torments inflicted upon him, but the mockeries dared against the divine oracles. 9. And I said: I will not name the name of the Lord, and I will not speak in His name. Instead of, I will not prophesy, nor will I bring the prediction of God to the disobedient. "And it became in my heart, as a burning fire, and blazing, and confined in my bones, and I am weary on all sides, and I cannot bear it." The divine Paul also endured this in Athens 81.616 when he was silent; "For his spirit," it says, "was provoked within Paul as he saw that the city was full of idols." The prophet also suffers this; for the prophetic grace constrained him to speak when he did not want to. Then he relates how they not only afflicted and tormented him; but also contrived another plot, trying to deceive him and make him fall away from God. For they said, it says: "Let us conspire against him, all his friends, watch his thought, if he will be deceived, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him." Who could worthily lament the contrivances of wickedness? The prophet, however, does not trust in himself, but hymns the divine assistance, and says: 11. The Lord is with me as a mighty warrior. And he teaches the victory of the divine assistance. "Therefore they persecuted, and were not able to overcome; they were greatly ashamed, because they were not able to understand their own dishonors, which will not be forgotten forever." Then again he asks God to be judge, and to demand from them penalties worthy of their undertakings; but being distressed, and greatly pained and vexed with the present life, he first hymns the God of all, and then he curses the day of his mother's birth pangs. 13. For sing, he says, to the Lord, praise Him, for He has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers. He places the hymn first, in order to cast out every occasion for blasphemy. Then he says: 14, 15. Cursed be the day on which I was born in it; the day on which my mother bore me. And cursed be the man who brought the good news to my father, saying: A male son has been born to you; let him not be rejoicing. Men are accustomed, when grieving excessively, to take hold of those standing by, and to press them with their hands; and sometimes even to dash their hands, with the pain compelling them; the prophet also suffered this. For from excessive pain he took hold of the day, an unsubstantial thing, and of the one who announced the birth to his father. And this was not even a particular person; and it is likely no one even made the announcement. And he adds, that it were better for me to have died in the womb, and to have come forth dead, than to fall into these manifold calamities. CHAPTER 21. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him 81.617 Pashhur the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest. This is another Pashhur; for this one is the son of Malchiah; but the one who was accused, was the son of Immer. One must know, however, that the prophecies are not set in order; for here he prophesies the things concerning Zedekiah; but after a little, the things concerning Jehoiakim and Jeconiah, who reigned before Zedekiah; Zedekiah, however, being besieged by Nebuchadnezzar,

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μὴ ἀρ κεῖν εἰς τήνδε τὴν ὑπουργίαν, καὶ ὑπέσχου κρείτ τονά με ποιήσειν τῶν πολεμούντων, καὶ τείχει χαλκῷ καὶ στύλῳ σιδηρῷ παραπλήσιον δείξειν· καὶ νῦν γέγονα καταγέλαστος· τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει· "Ἐγενό μην εἰς γέλωτα πᾶσαν ἡμέραν· διετέλεσα μυκτηρι ζόμενος." ηʹ. Ὅτι πικρῷ λόγῳ μου γελάσομαι, ἀθεσίαν καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν ἐπικαλέσομαι, ὅτι ἐγένετο ὁ λόγος Κυρίου ἐμοὶ εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ εἰς χλευα σμὸν πᾶσαν ἡμέραν. ∆άκνουσι τὸν προφήτην, οὐχὶ αἱ εἰς αὐτὸν γιγνόμεναι ταλαιπωρίαι τε καὶ αἰκίαι, ἀλλ' αἱ κατὰ τῶν θείων λογίων τολμώμεναι κωμῳδίαι. θʹ. Καὶ εἶπον· Οὐ μὴ ὀνομάσω τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου, καὶ οὐ μὴ λαλήσω ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, οὐ μὴ προφητεύσω, οὐδ' οὐ μὴ προσενέγκω τοῖς ἀπειθοῦσι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν πρόῤῥησιν. "Καὶ ἐγέ νετο ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου, ὡς πῦρ καιόμενον, καὶ φλεγόμενον, καὶ συνεχόμενον ἐν τοῖς ὀστέοις μου, καὶ παρεῖμαι πάντοθεν, καὶ οὐ δύναμαι φέρειν." Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ θεῖος ὑπέμεινε Παῦλος ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις 81.616 ἡνίκα ἐσιώπα· "Συνείχετο γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Παύλου θεωροῦντος κατείδωλον οὖσαν τὴν πόλιν." Τοῦτο πάσχει καὶ ὁ προφήτης· ἡ γὰρ προφητικὴ χάρις συνεῖχεν αὐτὸν φθέγξασθαι μὴ βουλόμενον. Εἶτα διηγεῖται ὅπως οὐ μόνον ἐταλαιπωροῦντο αὐ τὸν καὶ ᾐκίζοντο· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέραν ἐπιβουλὴν ἐκάτ τυον, ἐξαπατῆσαι αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀποστῆσαι πειρώμε νοι τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἶπον γὰρ, φησίν· "Ἐπισυστῶμεν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄνδρες φίλοι αὐτοῦ, τηρήσατε τὴν ἐπίνοιαν αὐτοῦ, εἰ ἀπατηθήσεται, καὶ δυνησόμεθα αὐτῷ, καὶ ληψόμεθα τὴν ἐκδίκησιν ἡμῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ." Τίς ἂν ἀξίως θρηνήσειεν τῆς πονηρίας τὰς ἐπινοίας; Ὁ μέντοι προφήτης οὐχ ἑαυτῷ θαῤῥεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὴν θείαν ἐπικουρίαν ὑμνεῖ, καί φησι. ιαʹ. Κύριος μετ' ἐμοῦ καθὼς μαχητὴς ἰσχύ ων. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ καὶ τῆς θείας ἐπικουρίας τὴν νί κην. "∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐδίωξαν, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν νικῆσαι· ᾐσχύνθησαν σφόδρα, ὅτι οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν νοῆσαι ἀτιμίας αὑτῶν, αἳ δι' αἰῶνος οὐκ ἐπιλησθή σονται." Εἶτα αἰτεῖ πάλιν γενέσθαι κριτὴν τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἀπαιτῆσαι αὐτοὺς δίκας τῶν ἐπιχει ρημάτων ἀξίας· ἀνιώμενος δὲ, καὶ λίαν ἀλγυνόμενος καὶ τὴν παροῦσαν δυσχεραίνων ζωὴν, πρῶτον ὑμνεῖ τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, καὶ τηνικαῦτα ἐπαρᾶται τῇ τῶν μητρῴων ὠδίνων ἡμέρᾳ. ιγʹ. Ἄσατε γὰρ, φησὶ, τῷ Κυρίῳ, αἰνέσατε αὐτὸν, ὅτι ἐξείλετο ψυχὴν πένητος ἐκ χει ρὸς πονηρευομένων. Προτάττει τὸν ὕμνον, ἵνα πᾶσαν ἀφορμὴν βλασφημίας ἐκβάλῃ. Εἶτά φησιν· ιδʹ, ιεʹ. Ἐπικατάρατος ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν ᾗ ἐτέχθην ἐν αὐτῇ· ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν ᾗ ἔτεκέ με ἡ μήτηρ μου. Καὶ ἐπικατάρατος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὁ εὐαγ γελισάμενος τῷ πατρί μου λέγων· Ἐτέχθη σοι υἱὸς ἄρσην· μὴ εὐφραινόμενος ἔστω. Εἰώ θασιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, λίαν ὀδυρόμενοι, τῶν παρ ισταμένων ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι, καὶ ταῖς χερσὶν ἀποθλί βειν· ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ προσαράσσειν τὰς χεῖρας, τῆς ὀδύνης ἀναγκαζούσης· τοῦτο πέπονθε καὶ ὁ προφή της. Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς ὑπερβαλλούσης ὀδύνης τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπελάβετο, χρήματος ἀνυποστάτου, καὶ τοῦ τῷ πατρὶ τὸν τόκον μηνύσαντος. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἴδιός τις ἦν οὗτος· εἰκὸς δὲ μηδὲ μηνύσαι τινά. Προστίθησι δὲ, ὅτι καὶ ἄμεινον ἦν μοι ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ τελευτῆσαι, καὶ νεκρὸν προελθεῖν, ἢ ταῖς παντοδαπαῖς ταύταις πε ριπεσεῖν συμφοραῖς. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΑʹ. αʹ. Ὁ λόγος ὁ γενόμενος πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν παρὰ Κυρίου, ὅτε ἀπέστειλε πρὸς αὐτὸν Σεδεκίας ὁ 81.617 βασιλεὺς τὸν Πασχὼρ υἱὸν Μελχίου, καὶ τὸν Σο φονίαν υἱὸν Βαασαίου τὸν ἱερέα. Ἕτερος οὗτος Πασχώρ· Μελχίου γὰρ οὗτος· ὁ δὲ κατηγορηθεὶς, Ἐμμὴρ υἱός. Εἰδέναι μέντοι χρὴ, ὡς οὐ κατὰ τάξιν κεῖνται αἱ προφητεῖαι· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ τὰ ἐπὶ Σεδεκίου προφητεύει· μετ' ὀλίγον δὲ, τὰ ἐπὶ Ἰωακεὶμ καὶ τοῦ Ἰεχονίου, οἳ πρὸ τοῦ Σεδεκίου ἐβασίλευσαν· ὁ μέντοι Σεδεκίας, ὑπὸ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ πολι ορκούμενος,